Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
East Tennessee State
Baseball Nipped by East Tennessee State
2/20/2007 6:17:27 PM | Baseball
EMU squanders 7-2 lead to lose heartbreaker in the bottom of the ninth
EMU (1-3) held a 7-6 lead heading into the ninth inning. ETSU’s Tanner Moore led off with a single to right field. Junior Dan Puls got the next batter to foul out before retiring the third on a ground out which moved Moore over to second. After a walk, Ben Allen notched a two-out single down the right field line to score Moore tying the game at 7-7. With men on first and second, the Bucs’ John Weddle was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Junstin Tramble drew a walk to drive in the winning run giving ETSU (4-4) the 8-7 victory.
For the game, EMU pounded out a season-high 16 hits but were held scoreless by the East Tennessee State bullpen over the last four innings while the Bucs got six runs in the final three frames.
The Eagles were led by senior Derek Lehrman who went 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Sophomore Kyle Rhoad also went 4-of-5 with a RBI. Junior Jeff Hehr chipped in going 3-for-5 with a run scored while junior Josh Ivan went 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored. Jeff Davis also turned in a solid effort going 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs socred.
Eastern got on the board first in the top of the first inning as Lehrman singled to the shortstop and advanced on a throwing error by the ETSU shortstop. Hehr followed with a single moving Lehrman to third which was followed by a RBI double from Davis to score a run. Patrick Dean grounded out to second which allowed Hehr to score. Rhoad then singled to right field to plate Davis and give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
EMU added another run to take 4-0 advantage in the next frame as Lehrman singled to left field to plate Ivan from second base. East Tennessee State got on the board in the bottom of the inning with two runs on three hits to pull closer at 4-2.
Aaron Powell led off in the top of the fourth inning and reached on a fielding error. Ivan then doubled to left field to drive in a run which was followed by another RBI double by Lehrman to increase EMU’s lead to 6-2.
Davis hit his second home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning to give the Eagles a commanding 7-2 lead.
East Tennessee State would not go away as the Bucs responded in the bottom of the seventh inning with a run on three hits to cut Eastern’s lead to 7-3. ETSU keep applying the pressure in the bottom of the next inning tallying another three runs (two unearned) on three hits to pull within one at 7-6.
EMU will face its second South Eastern Conference (SEC) opponent as the Eagles travel to Columbia S.C. for a three game series against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Feb. 23-25.
